- THE ULTIMATE BLENDER HEAD TUTORIAL -
- Special Thanks to Jean Montambeault, blendy known as Iaminnocent :) for translating my tut in English -
Make Easily a Realistic Head with Blender !
First of all, you should know that I use a trick in this tutorial : yes there's one. Because of that, you may shed any self-doubt you entertain on the subject : you'll succeed to model a really nice human head. The trick? I do all the hard work in a manner such that anybody, at any level can follow in an interactive manner :) . Believe me!
Let
me guess : why are you here ? Would it be that you've wondered how to
model a human head (or any other really), that you've seen 2-3 tutorials
but that each time the end result was deceiving, rather unrealistic.
Hihihi just this to add : have a nice reading and an even better blending.
About the Tut
- IMPORTANT -
For
a start, I'll reveal the reason why this tutorial is failproof, I dare say
myself. What happens is that the tutorial is with you at each and every
step of your apprenticeship.
You have to download this
file first
to model interactively your head. Thanks to the
'build' animation effect carefully set, you'll be able to model the head
faithfully to the maps by following the instructions here, while having a
template mesh as a reference at every moment as a mean to avoid getting
lost, of finding hands-on what the next step should look like.
This tutorial is in three parts:
Part
|
- The
modelling of a human head (Beginner)
Part
] [ -
A
primer on human morphology/anatomy to enable you to model original
characters (Intermediate)
Part
]|[ -
Setting
up and armature system and character animation (Intermediate - with
serious patience)
There,
you have it... Go ahead blending !
- LET'S BEGIN !
You will need, before anything else, to place a set uvmapped planes around the place, in the 3D space, where you want the head. This will be you main tool to keep things in the right proportions and places. The maps to download are :
Make the reference box by your own following the great tut of Jean Montambeault wich you can find here Iaminnocent's site : or use the blend-tut one :)
- LET'S GO !
We
will begin by modelling the outline of the left eye . Make sure that you
are at frame one in the template .blend that you surely downloaded by now.
We will start on the lower part of the eyelid.
The
3D cursor being already at the right place (can I make it any easier ?),
where you will create a first plane doing your best to put it in the right
place judging by you background (or uvmapped) images. Help yourself with
the mesh template (use right arrow key to pop out a few more quads) as you
feel the need. Extrude (E-key in edit mode, using the two rightmost
vertices of that first quad) to the right and go all around the eye that
way, fitting the new quad your best, Sometimes (most really) you'll need
to do it one vertex at a time.
So, extrude your plane taking 'guidance' on the images and/or the mesh templates, the later you can 'construct' as there's need using the right arrow key. Use the front and the side view as they suit you best (you may see things even better sometimes if you use another view that you rotate in 3D this time). Once you've gone all around the eye you end up on the inside, close to the nose, create the last quad of that serie by selecting the two last vertices of the last quad you extruded and the first two of the first quad you created : then press F-Key and you're done.
(Note
: I made a blunder while modeling the outline of the eyelid myself and I
had to erase two faces on the upper part with the effec that they don't
appear in sequence now and that you have to go a further up to frame 63 to
see those two at last ; nevertheless, I bet you managed without them).
Go
in front view NUMPAD-1 select the 5
lower vertices of you new outline (see below). Then is a side view NUMPAD-3
extrude the selected vertices down and a bit to the right the way
you see below.
Extrude you new vertices once more.
We
will now attack the cheekbone. Extrude the four of the last 5 you created
(see below) ; think of imitating the little bump of the cheekbone by going
a bit to the left (seen in side view ; the outside of your head if you
will) and leaving enough space for the mouth that you will model with
cocentric circles. Again don't hesitate to refer to the mesh
template if you really get lost.
Let's
do the mouth now ; for that part, it is most likely that you'll need the
mesh template. Here again, we'll first create a plane, in front view. The
two leftmost vertices, must be right on the z axis (the blue, vertical
one). To achieve that you have to select them, one by one, and enter 0 as
their x coordinate in the dialog that pops out if you press N-Key.
Keep
on extruding toward the left, as you know how and can see below, up to the
corner of the mouth where both lips join. Join the last two vertices there
by selecting the lower one, placing the 3D cursor on it (shift+s,
curs => sel). Next, select the upper vertex and place it on the
other one, where the cursor is now (do
shift+s, sel => curs). Now select the two vertices using B-Key
; see at the top-right of the screen how it say Ve: 2-54, meaning
that two vertices are selected over the 54 that exists in you object. Do W-Key,
remove doubles or use the button in the edit buttons (F9).
Now it should read Ve 1-53.
Select the upper vertices, including the one at the right corner that we just join and extrude upward, with a slight move to the rear (to the left in side view) ; do that again but leaving out the corner vertex this time.
IMPORTANT
: YOU MUST DO THESE STEPS IN SIDE VIEW BECAUST THE POINT MAKING THE MIDDLE
OF THE LIP MUST STAY ON THE YZ PLANE, THAT IS HAVE THEIX X
COORDINATE=0, TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO MODEL ONLY ONE HALF ON THE HEAD THAT
WE'LL MIRROR TO GET THE OTHER HALF.
Select
the edge that we left aside the last time (note : select the 2 vertices to
select the edge) an in front view extrude to the right. In side view,
using the G-Key bring these
extruded points toward the back. Finally, extrude the upper one of the two
once more as shown in blue.
Select
the 4 points up there to the right and use F-Key
to create a face.
Exactly
the same way that we started on the upper lip we now will create a new
plane, make sure that the two leftmost vertice are on the YZ plave by
setting theix x-coordinate to 0, one by one, using the N-Key.
Then go on extruding toward the right, as shown below.
As to make the animation easier, knowing that the lower jaw, hence the lower lip move the most, we will place the corner end of this one more on the inside of the mouth. So we will extrude the end of the upper lip, placing the vertices under the lower lip since the lower lip is more curved than the upper one ; there then will be one more edge in the lower lip then in the upper.
Extrude
twice as shown below the two leftmost vertices of the upper lip.
Select the 4 vertices as seen on the image below and create a face using F-Key.
Now,
extrude the line at the bottom (in red) and create the faces to finish the
lower lip, making it suitably plump. Don't forget that the last vertices
toward the middle of the character's face must fall on the YZ plane for
symetry and ease of work's sake. You make set subsurf to 1 to see how
things are coming along.
